96 PARK S FIRST JOURNEY. 



which he threw in with an air of savage unconcern, the' 

 dooty exclaiming, '■'■ najphula attiniata I money lost, money 

 lost !" Mr. Park withdrew in the deepest disgust at this 

 display of brutal and selfish avarice. The only hearty meal 

 he obtained for many days was from a Moslem convert, 

 who, presenting a board, entreated him to write a saphie 

 upon it, the return for which would be a good supper of 

 rice and salt. This was too important an offer to be re- 

 jected from nice scruples. He therefore covered the board 

 with the Lord's Prayer, which his host carefully washed 

 otF and drank, afterward licking the wood with his tongue. 

 For this, in addition to his good rice supper, he received 

 next morning a breakfast of meal and milk. 



Our traveller now arrived at Bammakoo, where the level 

 country ontliis side of the Niger terminates ; but, on wish- 

 ing to cross to the other bank, he was informed that the 

 river would not be fordable for several months, and that no 

 canoe could be procured large enough to transport himself 

 and his horse. At length there was pointed out a path, 

 rocky and difficult, but through which he might contrive to 

 pick a way under the direction of a Jilli-kea, or singing 

 man, who was going to Sibidooloo. The track, however, 

 proved excessively rough and perilous ; when his tuneful 

 conductor, finding himself mistaken in the way, sprang up 

 among the clifts, and quickly disappeared. Mr. Park was 

 obliged to return and search among a number of glens, till 

 he found a track marked by the tread of horses, which led 

 him to Kooma, a beautiful sequestered village in the heart 

 of those barren mountains, where, on the produce of a small 

 fertile valley, the inhabitants lived in peaceful abundance. 

 They showed that kind hospitality which had been be- 

 stowed only scantily and occasionally in the still more 

 Fruitful regions below. Mr. Park set out next day for Si- 

 bidooloo ; but on this route his last and greatest disaster 

 awaited him. In passing a rivulet he found a shepherd, 

 who had been wounded by a party of banditti, and soon 

 after saw a man sittinfj on the stump of a tree, while from 

 among the grass appeared the heads of six or seven others, 

 with muskets in their hands. Seeing it impossible to 

 escape, he resolved to put the best face he could on his situa- 

 tion. Pretending to take them for elephant-hunters, he 

 went up and asked if their chase had been successful. 



